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She pushed on the top bars of the split door, which had swung closed. Had the wind done that? Ellie frowned when the barswouldn’tbudge. What the heck?
She pushed again, then pulled and rattled them a little bit as an instant of panic set in.
Blaze took offence to both the noise and the frantic motion and butted her none too gently between the shoulder blades.
Ellie stood to the side for a moment to allow them both to calm. She tried to think things through rationally. The latch couldn’t have fallen closed on its own, because it was far too stiff. She must be pulling it the wrong way… except she’d done both, hadn’t she? And besides, the door opened outwards. The doors always opened outwards. Feeling panic start to build in a bubble in her chest, Ellie took a deep breath and, waiting for a lull in the blustery weather, went back to the bars to try again.
Nothing. She pushed with all her might, but nothing gave even slightly. The door was well and truly latched in place, except that wasn’t possible, unless…
Ellie didn’t want her mind to go there. Didn’t want to imagine that someone might have deliberately locked her in with a potentially dangerous animal, just when a storm was brewing.
Peering through the bars, she tried to see the latch, butcouldn’tget a clear visual. She squeezed her hand through the bars to see if she could grasp it, but she simply couldn’t reach.
The stables brightened up just for a moment as flashes of lightening lit the sky outside the door. Blaze’s ears were almost flattened against her head in terror, and she pawed the ground in obvious agitation.
Knowing that it was about to thunder again, Ellie pressed her back against the wall and made minute, shuffling movements to the side, trying to steer clear of all the horse’s hooves. She might rear or she might kick, and either could be fatal for a person in the wrong place at the wrong time. And this most definitely qualified as both.
Suddenly Ellie thought she heard voices shouting above the noise of the wind and the rain that had just started a hammering downpour against the corrugated tin roof. She strained to hear, scared to get too close to the door in case Blaze reared again. Did she dare to shout, knowing that the horse would freak out, especially with Ellie being stood right next to her.
She’d just built up the courage - because it was a better option than being trapped with a skittish horse all night - but when she opened her mouth nothing came out but a broken rasp.
Tears build up in her eyes, and she blinked them away in annoyance. She cleared her throat and swallowed to try and lubricate it a little before she tried again, but before she could it was like the horse spoke for her.
Blaze let out a noisy, snorting whinny and kicked her hoofs against the wooden door, making it rattle.
Ellie could hearthevoices coming closer. Were they coming to check on the horses? She hoped and prayed that they were.
A moment later, the stiff latch gave way and Ellie shot out of the stall like a bullet and bounded straight into the solid wall of Cody’s chest. She might have bounced off if he hadn’t caught and steadied her.
“What in hell’s name? Ezra, get the horse…”
Ellie was barely aware of the other Carson brother gently leading the mare into a smaller, quieter stall after harnessing her with a lead rope; she was too busy trembling like a leaf and burrowing her head into Cody’s neck.
His strong arms tightened around her and made her feel blessedly safe, but it didn’t stop the tears.
They were tears of relief, she told herself as she sucked in great big lungful’s of air and tried to get her erratic breathing under control.
“What the heck were you doing in there, Ellie?” he asked, shock stilting the usual velvet drawl of his voice.
“I… I…” She hiccupped. “S-Someone shut… someoneshutmein!” The words all ran together into unintelligible nonsense, but the feel of Cody’s warm hands rubbing and stroking her back, soothed her soul. In the circle of his arms, she felt like nothing could ever hurt her.
He ran his fingers over her hair and held her close, his breath warm against her skin as he hushed and settled her.
When she finally came back to herself, she thought she felt his lips feather against her forehead and down to her temple.
Then the moment was broken - story of her life - as Cora’s voice, shouting urgently for Cody, broke through the dimness of the stormy evening.
Chapter Eight
It was the following day when things really started to come into sharp focus for Ellie.
She had stumbled her way back into the house after Cody was called away for an important phone call. One that had been short-lived, since no one had been on the other end of the line when she walked in, drenched to the skin and shaking from a combination of cold and fright. Obviously the storm had knocked out the call.
Or had it?
“Someone shut me in,” she whispered hoarsely to the room as she dripped and puddled all over the floor.
There was dead silence for a moment, then Syrus broke the strained tension that had seeped into the room and had nothing to do with the storm.
